Groupe Média TFO

Information / Credits

Celebrating 25 years of bringing cultural and educational programming to the Franco-Ontarian community, public television station TFO has partnered with Toronto agency Lowe Roche to unveil a contemporary new look as the channel embarks on a new era.
A renowned cultural brand with a strong connection to its audience, the redesign is aimed at broadening TFO’s appeal amongst French-speakers and engaging younger viewers. The refresh has also been designed to showcase the channel’s technological developments, which under the leadership of CEO Glenn O’Farrell have included initiatives such as smart phone applications and web series.
“The brief was to develop a new brand identity to better position TFO as a producer and broadcaster of quality multi-platform educational content,” comments Lowe Roche CEO Monica Ruffo on the project. “The face of French Ontario has evolved in the past decade and it was time for TFO to build on its past accomplishments to attract a wider audience.”
Lowe Roche, which won the account last September, worked on crafting a brand positioning and personality for TFO before turning the project over to the creative team. Manifesting the station’s core purpose in the phrase ‘igniting people and minds’, the agency brought this brand promise to life by revamping TFO’s design and pushing the channel forward with a contemporary feel that is striking yet simple.
Retaining the brand heritage while modernizing its feel, the new logo has taken on the shape of a flag to symbolize TFO’s strong emotional connection with French-speaking Ontario. The visuals embrace a bold colour scheme that encompasses the corporate colour purple as well as red, blue and lime green. As TFO does not carry any commercials but does air self-promotion material, this bold spectrum was selected by Lowe Roche to help break up the visuals and identify TFO’s diverse cultural content, which includes opera and ballet, arthouse films, social magazines and children’s programming.
The rebrand has been rolled out across TFO’s broadcast and online media, including in on-air promotions and signatures as well as throughout the website. To support the new look, the Lowe Roche team is also creating a selection of promotional materials bearing the new design.
“We are very privileged to have worked on such an iconic brand,” adds Ruffo. “It was a very challenging mandate but both TFO and Lowe Roche are very proud of the result, and we are now working with TFO on bringing their brand positioning to life through multiple projects.”